We’ve all been there – you try on a pair of amazing Prada loafers you’ve found in a charity shop where rich people have off-loaded their old stuff (tips for find them here, fyi). You know they’re just that tiny bit too small. But you buy them anyway. Because they’re Prada. And £35. But can you make them wearable?
That depends. First question: what are they made from? If they’re leather, you’re in luck – leather has the most give out of any material. If they’re not, proceed with caution: fabric or synthetic material is much less flexible, and you’re more likely to end up damaging the material.
Second question: how cheap are you? Your local Timpson store should be able to stretch shoes out by about half a size, but it’ll cost you about a fiver. If you can’t be bothered with that, congratulations! You’re my kind of girl.
A convoluted solution on Pinterest advises putting water-filled ziplock bags into the toes of your shoes and storing them in the freezer; apparently the water expands as it freezes and stretches the shoe. This is a dumb idea, because it is supremely gross to put shoes in the refrigerator. I don’t care if you put them in a plastic bag first –your poor housemate doesn’t want to see your charity shop purchase next to her freezer bag of IKEA meatballs. It’s just wrong.
Basically, two things will stretch leather: dampness and heat. Some people advocate the wet newspaper tactic, where you stuff damp newspaper into the toe of the shoe. I’ve never done this without massively ballsing up the ratio of newspaper to water, and picking bits of soggy papier mâché out of your vintage Ferragamos is nobody’s idea of fun. If you do go for this tactic, place the pair in an airing cupboard or somewhere warm, like under a radiator, and allow the paper to dry completely – the dampness and heat will allow the leather to stretch.
I have a Russian friend whose mother stuffed vodka-soaked newspaper into her high heels, which always struck me as a spectacular misuse of booze. But the thinking behind it is pretty sensible: most shoe stretching sprays are alcohol-based, which loosens the leather more effectively than water.
You can buy a spray from Amazon for around £3, but if you have a bottle of rubbing alcohol gathering dust in your medicine cabinet, you can use that. Combine a half measure of rubbing alcohol with half water in a spray bottle spray the inside of the shoe until damp. Put the shoes on with a pair of thick socks and go watch Netflix for an hour or two. You might need to repeat this process over the next few days, but you should gain an extra half-inch or two.
If you don’t have rubbing alcohol, try the old hairdryer trick: put the shoes on with a pair of thick socks and heat the leather for about a minute to soften it. Walk around your room until the shoes have cooled down. Repeat if necessary, but be warned – once you loosen leather, you can’t un-loosen it.
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This article originally appeared on The Debrief.